Homage to our Mother Nature

I often dream of what the earth might have looked like two hundred years ago. To do this, I have to look through buildings and pavement, farms and clear cutting before I am able to visualize what once was. I imagine the towering Douglas firs that blanketed the landscape, the rolling streams and rivers clogged with salmon, the abundant wildlife stalking the trees and wandering the golden valleys. But when I let my visualization fall away, I no longer see monster trees hundreds of years old, the streams that flow, flow through neighborhoods, and salmon clog fish ladders instead of rivers.

Here in the little valley I live in, tucked away in the Umpqua Basin in Oregon, any visiting would still think this place is ripe with nature, but only because the land they come from has been raped far more than mine. This is the problem with society today. People no longer have a connection with nature, and that lack of connection leads to a fear of the wild. When humans are afraid of something, they conquer it.

More than ever humans see nature as a separate entity. There is nature, with all of its plants and wildlife, and then there is us. Humanity has forgotten that it is a part of nature. We are a part of the circle of life whether we like it or not. We come into the world no different than other mammals, with blood and pain, and magic. Because it is magical, how each life is formed. And we exit the world no different than other mammals. The earth takes us, and recycles us, and with our bodies we enrich the soil making it possible for seedlings to grow and life to once again flourish. This is the cycle of life, and its never ending beauty.

It is important for us as humans to regain our place among nature, not to hold her in the steely confines of our grip. Mother Earth offers us gifts, she gives us food, shelter, and beauty, but most importantly, she gives us life. So rather than conquering and raping her, let us offer her respect and thanks. After all, she who has the power to give life, has also the power to destroy life.